Samstag, 9. Juli 2016

This time we go back to the 'roots' so to speak ... after a long pause it finally struck me and I decided to finish another bunch of modern military figures. It was just a small group of 13 figures, but nonetheless they are finished, which is great so far. Now I have got a bit more space on my table (again, I might say :-D).

The last four Austrian Jäger are ready, which now leaves the unit with eight figures. I guess I need some more to man more than one vehicle, but at the moment I man happy so far.

Then I finished two more German soldiers for a European theatre as well as eight for Middle East or African scenarios.

And then I've got an Italian Ariete MBT on the table. It's not fully finished yet, but it already got its paint.

This marks another step forward in this project ... I don't know when I will finish the MBT, as I am currently working through my projects as I like. But I will finish it ... sooner or later at least.

Sonntag, 12. Juni 2016

Small but mighty progress was made - and finally the tank is safe for traffic!

And the first building nears completion:

But why talk about city and houses? Nature! That’s where I want to go to! Well, Alicia, let’s have a walk in the woods!

While I was working on my Soviet female company project, I stumbled upon a tutorial regarding the construction of pieces of terrain – and that with only a small amount of material and time. Perfect for me!So with the help of my friend, who supplied me with an orange crate (by the way: real Gallian oranges!) and some material for the construction of forest terrain I was able to start the construction of my first few pieces of terrain.

The construction started sketching the outline of the planned terrain. After that I cut the material into shape and started to form the forest ground. And as the trees I wanted to use weren’t supplied with stands, I used the putty to create some stands, too.

After that had dried, I finished the base and base coated it.

I wanted to use sand colour to lighten up the dark base colour – but somehow I managed to overdo it and make the proposed forest terrain into desert terrain.

Several brown colours were necessary to darken the colour again, but then the terrain came out acceptable (at least for me).So grass and forest material were put on that.

After that it was time to go on with the trees.

I had to wash and clean them, as they had been stored away for a long time. Then I decided to do some test shots.

Still there are some improvements that have to be made.But the terrain is already usable for my Chinese ….

… Panzergrenadiers …

… and Gallians:

Nice!But as the tree stands didn’t look that good, I wanted to hide them. So I made some improvements:

The only things I now have to work on are the trees.

And then my first two pieces of terrain are ready! They may not be perfect – but for my first two terrain pieces, they look quite acceptable, I think!

Sonntag, 5. Juni 2016

New stuff for my Soviet fighter girls! This time it's a WIP of my T-34/Mod41 ... or was it 42? Errr ...

Anyway! There was some time during the Easter weekend and my comrade and I met to continue some of our projects. For me that meant working on my girls ... And now they've got a T-34 to kick some fascist buttocks!

Some people advised me to get a T-34/85 instead, because it provides me with more firepower and yeah ... they are right! BUT - and that is important: I like this one much more. First of all: the 34/85 was introduced in 1944, which is way too late for me. I want to be able to play earlier matches and the 41/42 allows me to do so. Secondly: It looks nice and more slender than the heavy turret of the 85.
Now I need a female commander and then I can start painting.

Samstag, 28. Mai 2016

Long time no see. I had to take a break from blogging due to some private stuff and a lot of work, but I am back again with some updates (haven’t been resting, though :-D)

I guess it’s quite appropriate to start again with one of my “I-didn’t-intend-to-ever-do-this-again” projects.This time the force may be with me …

Like with all that WWII stuff I never wanted to go into another topic again: Star Wars. I had been a fan of this universe for more than half of my life, but like Star Trek it eventually became boring. But now one of my friends was successful in turning me to the Dark Side once again.

Having been a formidable fleet commander back when we played Empire at War and having listened to some music from Blue Man Group at that time as well, I was reminded to one Star Wars character I had like since I read about him for the first time: Thrawn!

I read all the book of the original Thrawn triology as well as listened to the German audio drama and came back into the topic, and so I wanted to build up a small armada for Star Wars Armada.And when I am done with this, I will field those units to strike my fellow players in my hometown. Har Har Har.

The first steps have already been taken: A few squadrons of Tie fighters, two Victory class Star Destroyers and two Imperial class Star Destroyers are already transferred under my command and are ready to commence any operation whatsoever.Then I bought an Imperial raider, but I consider this ship to be awfully ugly and I don’t think I will use her that much.

Those first few ships are pre-painted, so it’s much easier to build up a small fleet without having all too much to assemble or paint.Still I didn’t like the washing of those two big units, so I decided to “upgrade” those units with a bit of fire damage.

The Victory destroyers look nice so far:

The ISDs however are a bit too clean … I have to do something about it!

Then the Tie fighters had to be painted! As I wanted to distinct between them in the case I had to use them in fights between different imperial fleets, they got differently painted cockpits.

Currently I’ve got some villains on the table. They will be put into service somewhen in the future – but for now, I am ready to challenge small rebel forces. Har Har Har! And I found some other ships that could fit into my fleet – Interdictor 418 cruisers, Dreadnoughts and Lancer frigates. I think I will get some of those instead!And I need another bunch of Tie fighters … my, my … so much stuff.

Dienstag, 2. Februar 2016

Finally, the last miniatures of my "old" Qin plastic battalion are finished. Yes! That leaves another 14 metal miniatures, 3 chariots and 9 cavalrymen before the first Qin unit is completely done.

And while I was painting, I decided to try out the colors I chose to be the pattern of my Han army.

Works quite well, I think, though it is a bit disappointing that the gentlemen are shining. But I'm sure I will be able to soften that using a different lacquer next time.

Anyway: Currently there is another battalion of Qin warriors on my table, though I still have to correct some of the weapons (those guys aren't on the picture) ...

... as well as a unit of Han Gē (dagger-axe) soldiers. (EDIT: I know what you are thinking and you are right: Those are actually Ji-halbherds. How shameful. Thanks to 春秋戰國 from Great Ming Military for making me aware of my mistake!)